Good to hear from you Denis. DRAM shakeout predicted:
The DRAM industry could begin a "weeding out" of some
major suppliers--mainly, those that don't have sub-0.25-micron
deep-ultraviolet (DUV) lithography processes. That is the view of Bob
Brown, president of Toshiba America Electronic Components Inc., who
told Semiconductor Business News that he expected such a shakeout next
year.
He said he believed that only about a half-dozen major DRAM firms now
have a significant DUV production capability, and a few more might be able
to ramp up sub-quarter-micron feature-size processes in the next year.
Those suppliers without this capability won't be competitive because their
older production processes will get sharply lower yields--estimated to be
half as many chips from a wafer as in DUV-capable fabs.
Brown said Toshiba's 64-megabit DRAM fab in Japan has converted to
DUV lines, and will be moving to 0.20-micron feature-size chips by the end
of the year. The firm's joint venture with IBM Corp., Dominion
Semiconductor in Manassas, Va., will be running quarter-micron chips by
the end of 1998. Toshiba's DRAM foundry partner, Winbond Electronics
Corp., in Hsinchu, Taiwan, will also be at sub-quarter-micron production by
the beginning of next year, he said.
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